Animal Crossing: New Horizons recently became Japan’s best-selling game of all time

For many years, Pokémon Red, Green and Blue combined have topped Japan's best-selling games chart. Now, their time at the top has ended, as Animal Crossing: New Horizons takes the lead with 10,450,000 sales in Japan, 200,000 more than the first Pokémon games.

The team at Game Data Library has been collecting sales data for games sold in Japan over the last few years, including the sales number for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Despite being available for two years, the game sold over 260,000 copies this past month, showing how much the Japanese public loves this title.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has become Japan's all time best selling game. pic.twitter.com/yonNxSkBkd

— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) November 8, 2022

Since its release in March 2020, the game sold over 10,450,000 copies for the Nintendo Switch, dethroning Pokémon Red/Blue/Green and making it the best-selling game of all time in Japan. Across the world, Animal Crossing: New Horizons sales are around 40M, second only to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with over 48M copies sold.

Even if the first Pokémon game is no longer Japan's best-seller, the series is still well-represented in the top 20. Besides Pokémon Red/Blue/Green, you'll see Pokémon Gold/Silver in 3rd place, Pokémon Sword/Shield in 9th place, Pokémon Diamond/Pearl in 10th place, Pokémon Black/White in 11th place, Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire in 12th place, and Pokémon X/Y in 19th place.

Mario games also have a strong presence in the top 20 with Super Mario Bros. coming in 4th place, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in 6th place, New Super Mario Bros. in 7th place and New Super Mario Bros. Wii in the 18th spot.

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KitGuru Says: Animal Crossing: New Horizons rose to the top of the charts in Japan faster than any other game. Selling more than Pokémon Red/Blue/Green is no easy feat.

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